Transformer Loading

Transformers can provide a voltage on their secondary winding but to transfer electrical power between their input and
output they need to be loaded

In the previous transformer tutorials, we have assumed that the transformer is ideal, that is one in which there are no core
losses or copper losses in the transformers windings. However, in real world transformers there will always be losses
associated with transformer loading as the transformer is put “on-load”. But what do we mean by: Transformer
Loading.

Well first let’s look at what happens to a transformer when it is in this “no-load” condition, that is with no electrical load
connected to its secondary winding and therefore no secondary current flowing.

A transformer is said to be on “no-load” when its secondary side winding is open circuited, in other words, nothing is
attached and the transformer loading is zero. When an AC sinusoidal supply is connected to the primary winding of a
transformer, a small current, IOPEN will flow through the primary coil winding due to the presence of the primary
supply voltage.

With the secondary circuit open, nothing connected, a back EMF along with the primary winding resistance acts to limit
the flow of this primary current. Obviously, this no-load primary current ( Io ) must be sufficient to maintain enough
magnetic field to produce the required back emf. Consider the circuit below.

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Transformer “No-load” Condition

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The ammeter above will indicate a small current flowing through the primary winding even though the secondary circuit
is open circuited. This no-load primary current is made up of the following two components:

An in-phase current, IE which supplies the core losses (eddy current and hysteresis).
o
A small current, IM at 90 to the voltage which sets up the magnetic flux.

Note that this no-load primary current, Io is very small compared to the transformers normal full-load current. Also due
to the iron losses present in the core as well as a small amount of copper losses in the primary winding, Io does not lag
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behind the supply voltage, Vp by exactly 90 , ( cosφ = 0 ), there will be some small phase angle difference.

Transformer Loading Example No1

A single phase transformer has an energy component, IE of 2 Amps and a magnetising component, IM of 5 Amps.
Calculate the no-load current, Io and resulting power factor.

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Transformer “On-load”
When an electrical load is connected to the secondary winding of a transformer and the transformer loading is therefore
greater than zero, a current flows in the secondary winding and out to the load. This secondary current is due to the
induced secondary voltage, set up by the magnetic flux created in the core from the primary current.

The secondary current, IS which is determined by the characteristics of the load, creates a self-induced secondary
magnetic field, ΦS in the transformer core which flows in the exact opposite direction to the main primary field, ΦP.
These two magnetic fields oppose each other resulting in a combined magnetic field of less magnetic strength than the
single field produced by the primary winding alone when the secondary circuit was open circuited.

This combined magnetic field reduces the back EMF of the primary winding causing the primary current, IP to increase
slightly. The primary current continues to increase until the cores magnetic field is back at its original strength, and for a
transformer to operate correctly, a balanced condition must always exist between the primary and secondary magnetic
fields. This results in the power to be balanced and the same on both the primary and secondary sides. Consider the
circuit below.

Transformer “On-load”

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We know that the turns ratio of a transformer states that the total induced voltage in each winding is proportional to the
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number of turns in that winding and also that the power output and power input of a transformer is equal to the volts
times amperes, ( V x I ). Therefore:
But we also know previously that the voltage ratio of a transformer is equal to the turns ratio of a transformer as:
“voltage ratio = turns ratio”. Then the relationship between the voltage, current and number of turns in a transformer can
be linked together and is therefore given as:

Transformer Ratio

Where:
NP/NS = VP/VS – represents the voltage ratio
NP/NS = IS/IP – represents the current ratio
Note that the current is inversely proportional to both the voltage and the number of turns. This means that with a
transformer loading on the secondary winding, in order to maintain a balanced power level across the transformers
windings, if the voltage
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As a transformers ratio is the relationships between the number of turns in the primary and secondary, the voltage across
each winding, and the current through the windings, we can rearrange the above transformer ratio equation to find the
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voltage, ( V ) current, ( I ) or number of turns, ( N ) as shown.
The total current drawn from the supply by the primary winding is the vector sum of the no-load current, Io and the
additional supply current, I1 as a result of the secondary transformer loading and which lags behind the supply voltage
by an angle of Φ. We can show this relationship as a phasor diagram.

Transformer Loading Current

If we are given currents, IS and Io, we can calculate the primary current, IP by the following methods.

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Transformer Loading Example No2
A single phase transformer has 1000 turns on its primary winding and 200 turns on its secondary winding. The
transformers “no-load” current taken from the supply is 3 Amps at a power factor of 0.2 lagging. Calculate the primary
winding current, IP and its corresponding power factor, φ when the secondary current supplying a transformer loading is
280 Amperes at 0.8 lagging.

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You may have noticed that the phase angle of the primary current, φP is very nearly the same as that of the secondary
current phase angle, φS. This is due to the fact that the no-load current of 3 amperes is very small compared to the larger
56 amperes drawn by the primary winding from the supply.

Actual real life, transformer windings have impedances of both XL and R. These impedances need to be taken into
account when drawing the phasor diagrams as these internal impedances cause voltage drops to occur within the
transformers windings. The internal impedances are due to the resistance of the windings and an inductance drop called
the leakage reactance resulting from the leakage flux. These internal impedances are given as:

So the primary and secondary windings of a transformer possess both resistance and reactance. Sometimes, it can be
more convenient if all these impedances values are combined together on the same side of the transformer to make the
maths calculations a little easier.

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The combined values of R and L impedances are called “Referred Impedances” or “Reflected Values”. The object here to provide a
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is to group together the impedances within the transformer and have just one referred value value of R and XL to either
the primary or the secondary side in our calculations as shown.
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Combining Transformer Impedances

In order to refer a resistance or reactance from one side of the transformer to the other, we must multiply or divide by the
2
square of the turns ratio, ( Turns Ratio ). Thus referring (or reflecting) the impedances (resistance and reactance) from
2
the secondary to the primary side of the transformer we multiply by the turns ratio squared, N , and when referring the
primary impedances to the secondary side, we must divide by the turns ratio squared. Thus secondary to primary
reflection increases R and X, while the primary to secondary reflection reduces R and X by an amount determined by
2
N . This referring or reflecting of the impedances applies equally to the connected load resistance and reactance as well.

So for example, to refer a secondary resistance of 2Ω to the primary side that has a turns ratio of 8:1 will result in a new
2
primary resistive value of: 2 x 8 = 128Ω, while a primary resistance of 2Ω will result in a secondary resistive value
of: 0.03125Ω.

Transformer Voltage Regulation

The voltage regulation of a transformer is defined as the change in secondary terminal voltage when the transformer
loading is at its maximum, i.e. full-load applied while the primary supply voltage is held constant. Regulation determines
the voltage drop (or increase) that occurs inside the transformer as the load voltage becomes too low as a result of the
transformers loading being to high which therefore affects its performance and efficiency.

Voltage regulation is expressed as a percentage (or per unit) of the no-load voltage. Then if E represents the no-load
secondary voltage and V represents the full-load secondary voltage, the percentage regulation of a transformer is given
as:

So for example, a transformer delivers 100 volts at no-load and the voltage drops to 95 volts at full load, the regulation
would be 5%. The value of E – V will depend upon the internal impedance of the winding which includes its resistance,
R and more significantly its AC reactance X, the current and the phase angle.
Also voltage regulation generally increases as the power factor of the load becomes more lagging (inductive). Voltage
regulation with regards to the transformer loading can be either positive or negative in value, that is with the no-load
voltage as reference, the change down in regulation as the load is applied, or with the full-load as reference and the
change up in regulation as the load is reduced or removed.

In general, the regulation of the core type transformer when the transformer loading is high is not as good as the shell
type
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In the next tutorial about Transformers we will look at the Multiple Winding Transformer which has more than one
primary winding
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together in order to supply more voltage or more current to the connected load.
Read more Tutorials inTransformers

1. Transformer Basics
2. Transformer Construction
3. Transformer Loading
4. Multiple Winding Transformers
5. The Autotransformer
6. The Current Transformer
7. Three Phase Transformers
8. Audio Transformer
9. Transformer Voltage Regulation

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Frank

Excellent! I love how the topic it’s analysied to simple complexity… and understanding.

Posted on August 01st 2023 | 5:08 am

Reply
Daven

Excellent content.
Thank you

Posted on March 29th 2023 | 12:10 am

Reply
Shivam Kumar

Great Content

Posted on February 10th 2023 | 12:08 pm

Reply
Alfred
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Posted on February 06th 2023 | 8:18 am
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Chandu
 Very useful for engineering students especially eee students

Posted on February 02nd 2023 | 5:41 pm

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Jose Arnel Mendoza

Truly one of the best tutorials on web! God bless you all and more power to all of you.
Thank you very much.

Posted on February 01st 2023 | 11:58 am

Reply
Prerna

Transformer ke bare me achi jankari di gyi h

Thank you

Posted on October 29th 2022 | 3:24 pm

Reply
Sam

Good job

Posted on October 21st 2022 | 4:49 am

Reply
Okpabi Enoch Sunday

Nice please I want to know different voltage transformer is being coil make

Posted on June 08th 2022 | 8:31 am

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FREDRICK ODUOR ODONGO

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT PAGE.

Posted on May 25th 2022 | 4:52 am

Reply
Dan

Hi!
So you told that secondary voltage is due to the magnetic flux from the primary current. But, why my real practice
shows that sec. voltage is always totally in phase with the primary voltage and not with the prinary current?

And I could not create situation or loads when secondary voltage was in phase with its supposed originator – the
primary current (which is not totally in phase with the primary voltage)?

How could you clarify this practical fact?

Posted on May 14th 2022 | 9:28 am

Reply
Wayne Storr

Assuming a standard voltage transformer. If only a voltage was applied to the primary winding there would
be no secondary output voltage as there would be no magnetic flux induced in the core. As transformer
works on the principle of electromagnetic induction. When a primary current flows driven by the presense of
the primary voltage and frequency through the coil winding, magnetic lines of force (flux) are created which
transfers energy from the primary side to the secondary side. The flow of current in the primary winding
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of force
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All”, you
from the primary and cut the secondary winding. Thus a voltage is induced into the a
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consent. winding when the alternating magnetic lines of force cut across it. Therefore, it is the flow of
current in the primary which causes a voltage to be induced across the secondary due to the action of mutual
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 Since the primary winding is effectively an inductor, the phase angle between the primary voltage (Vp) and
current (Ip) would depend on the windings resistance and leakage reactance, which in practical transformers
is very small. The power rating of a transformer is obtained by simply multiplying the current by the voltage
to obtain a rating in Voltamperes, (VA). The power consumed by the secondary load depends on its
impedance and power factor. If Is lags Vs by an angle (phi) this is mirrored back onto the primary winding
so Ip lags Vp by the same amount giving the power factor of the transformer for a particular load. Thus as
you state, the primary and secondary voltages will always be in-phase due to the secondary phase angle.
Posted on May 16th 2022 | 9:27 am
Reply
Hem Raj

Really superb article. But I hv a question that is it possible difference in secondary voltage when checked with
neutral.

Posted on April 28th 2022 | 10:46 am

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Josiah

This page e is excellent.

I love the content.

Posted on August 27th 2021 | 5:32 pm

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Salihu O. Isah

Very good workdone.

Posted on July 28th 2021 | 2:59 am

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mohammad sargazi

Verygood

Posted on July 05th 2021 | 11:05 pm

Reply
mohammad sargazi

+989170276397

Posted on July 05th 2021 | 10:22 pm

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‫حسن علي حسين‬

draw the no load characteristics from the above

Posted on June 26th 2021 | 8:42 pm

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Ngale Raymond

I am interested in the group, love to become a member.

Posted on June 02nd 2021 | 4:20 pm

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Muhammad Abunasib

Masha Allah
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Postedconsent.
on April 30th 2021 | 8:02 am
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Abhay
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This site give best explanation, i was searching for it, and i am so happy that i found it.
 Posted on March 07th 2021 | 10:37 am
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